Trickle charger comes to the rescue when long-time unused automobiles under severe weather degrade the battery’s power continuously. A trickle charger can resurrect a dead battery under certain conditions.
Will a Trickle Charger Charge a Dead Battery
As batteries tend to self-discharge, keeping your automobiles unused for a long time or parking them outside under severe weather degrades the battery’s power gradually. A trickle charger generally charges a battery slowly so that it doesn’t run out of power. It even comes as a handy tool for a dead battery too.
There are different ideas of how long a trickle charger can be left on a battery. Therefore, different types have been manufactured. For instance, a trickle charger(capability of delivering 1 to 3 amperes of power) will take 20 to 24 hrs to charge a dead 12V battery to revive it in the usual state of charge.
So can a trickle charger charge dead batteries? Of course, it can. The alternator of a car allows the battery to remain active, but it cannot revive a dead battery. On the other hand, a trickle charger can resurrect a dead battery to a certain extent only when provided with a huge amount of time.
What is A Trickle Charger
A trickle charger is an electrical device that charges batteries at a slow and unvarying rate. What makes it different from a usual car battery charger is its low amperage, or it is only capable of producing a low charging ampere.
There’s no written rule about how much power a trickle charger generates. However, the average current a trickle charger delivers is around 1 to 3 amps.
The Function of the Trickle Charger
The specialty of a trickle charger is that it delivers an electric current at a spontaneous and lower rate to avoid the risk of overcharging. As the name suggests, the trickle charger better known as battery maintainer provides power with trickles.
Subsequently, the recharging rate is equally proportionate to the discharging rate while acquiring the absolute capacity. To ensure that, a battery regulator monitors the performance all time. As a battery self-discharges, a trickle charger replaces the lost energy gradually, thus, preventing the battery from being drained.
Trickle Charger vs Battery Tender
A battery tender is a useful device for keeping a long-time stored battery active. It charges the battery at its fullest as well as restrains from overcharging. Basically, it’s a 1.25ampere battery charger. So, both trickle charger and battery tender work the almost same way but there’s some fine line in between.
Battery tender supervises the level of charge, voltage drop every time so that it can pause the charging process. This is the very mechanism of overcharge prevention. An advantage to that, one can easily charge with a battery tender for an unlimited time being.
A smart tickle charger owns a self-detecting and ampere-adjusting automatic mechanism according to different voltage drops. This means, no need to concern about overcharging anymore. As a result, a smart trickle charger works as a great tool for powering up a dead battery back to its potential state safely.
In contrast to this scenario, a back-dated model trickle charger requires the assessment of pausing and initiating as it delivers charging on a continuous method. However, there’s an upgrade in the modern “smart trickle battery charger”.
How to Use a Trickle Charger
A trickle charger is quite easy to use. Most trickle chargers consist of a simple box with some components like a power cable and two alligator clips. If you charge your battery with a high current or leave it to charge for too long can cause damage to the battery.
Before connecting the charger to a power source, check the switches and buttons on the charger box and set them later. Make sure to set the voltage and amperage appropriate for your battery before connecting everything.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take a trickle charger to charge a dead battery?
For automobiles like cars approximately up to 48 hours. The reason for this slow process is to avoid excessive heating up of the battery.
Can a trickle charger damage the alternator?
No, charging the battery from home should not damage the alternator. There is however no need to constantly charge it. A frequently used vehicle doesn’t require to keep charging it at all really as the alternator will keep the battery charged up just fine.
How long can a car sit before the battery dies?
Unless given a recharge every 12 weeks, usually around the 12th month of storing a car as it is, will very likely lose the energy of its battery.
Will trickle charging hurt a battery?
If not overcharged, then there’s no fear of damaging the battery any time soon.
To Conclude
The main goal of a trickle charger is to ensure to keep running a battery when not in use for a long period of time, even when it is self-discharging. However, it can bring life to a dead battery providing that it is in good condition and not thoroughly worn out. So, a trickle charger definitely can charge a dead battery.
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